All Is Fair In Love and Law

Back to reality.

It was back to work after my leisurely , most adventurous weekend getaway . The firm had been abuzz with employees getting their act together and organised for the new year . I never doubted my team for even a second . Each person had their own strengths and weaknesses but they played more towards their positives . I greeted Phil as he held the door to the firm open for me . Phil had been working here since the time my dad had established his practice.

I saw Ellie walk towards me wearing a navy blue pencil skirt and a white blouse that she tucked in at the waist. ''You have a meeting at eleven thirty with Elliot Goldberg. " She handed me a brown cup of steamy coffee as always . Ahh , Elliot Goldberg . I knew exactly who he was . " He is a possible new client whose business expanded recently. Very handsome and wealthy . '' I bit back a laugh as Ellie filled me in on my meetings for today. Ellie Harris was our newest law intern. She was intelligent and very passionate about her job. However, she kept tabs on most of the rich and famous business men. It wasn't annoying because she was innocent over it. Her thoughts about them just flowed out without her thinking.

It has been a week since we got back to work. Majority of the city and its businesses were back up and running. ''Anything else for today?'' I asked as I pushed my office door open with Ellie walking in with me.

''You have to be present to oversee the legal documentation of the late Mr. Maddens death as well as the matter pertaining to his will.'' Ahh yes. Unfortunately, Gregory Madden had passed on the day I had gotten back from the weekend he so very generously gave me. His will had been set to be dispensed and sorted out today . ''That is at two o' clock. I hear his son is back to take his seat since he is to inherit all of what his father left behind . He doesn't need it though. Nicholas Madden has his own booming corporation in Melbourne.'' Ellie went on but when she mentioned Melbourne, I was curious to know if there was some link between the Madden family and that place since there was a certain amount of money that needed to go to someone there, as Gregory mentioned.

''It is currently eleven, Gianna. You have less than thirty minutes if you want to get to be on time for your meeting with Mr Goldberg .'' She was right. I always tried to be at appointments at least five minutes early. It gave me time to catch my breath before a meeting and , in some cases , go over the briefing . Ellie made her way out of my office and I took a seat for a minute. I flexed my ankle to release some tension with the heels.

I grabbed my leather bound note pad and, with a sigh, rose from my seat to see Elliot Goldberg. I had an idea of who he was since he had been featured once last year in a law article that I read briefly. His offices were nearly fifteen minutes from here so it wasn't a bad distance at all.

The drive here was easy with much greenery to witness along the way. My eyes widened when the GPS showed that I had reached my destination and a huge, glass framed sky scraper stood proudly in the middle of the city making all others in its surrounding looking mediocre and small.

I parked my car in the designated spot for visitors and cut the engine. I neatened my hair a little, taming the fly aways as best as I could before I grabbed my stationary and made my way into the gigantic building. The doorman opened the door for me with a customary nod and I smiled at him making my way deeper into the lobby.

The interior matched the outside with its grandiose furnishing, lighting and accurate placements of feature structures that all tied in together nicely without looking uneven but rather, it all flowed with the other. I found the front desk with two assistance behind it. The man was of a stubby height and his co-assistant was a strawberry blonde women of petite stature . I spotted a few more people, who I assumed to be working here, dressed in similar clothes as part of their dress code. The men, in their suits and the women, in pencil skirts or pants with a blazer. Though the style may have differed from person to person, the monochromatic look was evident in all of them.

The assistant with the strawberry blonde hair saw me approaching and rose from her seat. "I have an appointment with Mr Goldberg." I said briskly, checking my watch to make sure I was on time. And I was.

She scanned the screen briefly and then nodded more to herself than to me. "You must be Miss Moore." She said before handing me a white key card with the company's logo neatly printed on the front of it.

She motioned to the doors are the side . "Through those doors and take your first right. His office is there." I nodded and did as she said.

An hour later, the meeting with Elliott Goldberg had been concluded . It had been the first time that I made his acquaintance . He was much younger than I had assumed, charming too. He was not some straight faced rich man who flexed his power and position . Elliot Goldberg smiled widely and, even though, we spoke about all the business ventures he needed my overview of through out the first half of the year, his tone was light and his overall energy seemed very free and relaxed but that was not to say that the man was not serious about his dealings .

"One more thing, Miss Moore." Elliot said as I gathered my stuff and bound the leather file together . "I am looking on buying this property soon. However , I am slightly skeptical about the sellers. For this reason , I may need your help to oversee the deal with me. You know , maybe you can pick up the smaller print that I may overlook . " He elaborated on his intention on keeping me as his firms lawyer. It was something I was pleased to hear but did not display that too much. I will let you in on the finer details as the time approaches." He said lightly with a wave of his hand . I nodded and then left after saying a formal goodbye , then heading back to the firm.

It was fifteen minutes to one when I got back to the firm but I didn't cut the engine and drove off again to the nearest café . It would only make sense to grab a bite before my meeting at two at Madden Inc. It would be a lenghty affair seeing that external officials, such as Nicholas Madden's own lawyer , will be in on the meeting to make sure that the will is dispensed and signed of in the correct manner . The personal assets that Gregory had left to his son would be handled by his own lawyer . My role will be to oversee the transference of the business aspect of it seeing as I am Madden Inc's. lawyer .

Usually, I was not one to be nervous about dealing with a new client but I did feel a tad bit anxious about this meeting at two o' clock. Nicholas Madden was not only known for his notoriety with high class women . Heavens no, there was much more to the man in the way of his reputation . He was rumoured to be the most ruthless and arrogant businessman that anyone had ever come across in the corporate world.

I never ever paused to read an article of him , nor have I even got the chance to see what he looked like but the amount of gossip and scandal that circulated around the man hardly went unheard of . I could already see Ellie consume all the information that follows Nicholas Madden seeing as he is now the CEO of the company that we handle .

Reeled back to reality when the familiar waitress approached my table . She handed me a single , laminated page menu but I already knew what I wanted . The Grind had been the best café on this side of town and were renowned for their open sandwiches and pastas .

" I would like to have the smoked turkey and tomato sandwich . " Wendy was not surprised that I was ready to order without even having to look at the menu .

Her hazel eyes darted to another laminated sheet that held a list of the drinks available but it was nowhere near the size of the menu. The drinks list had been slotted into a wooden contraption that held it upright onto the table . " Any thing to drink, Miss Moore?" The list mostly included alcoholic beverages but there had been mocktails on the other side.

I should probably stick to a mocktail or even a wiser option like water. Although the last time I did have anything alcoholic had been a week ago I still felt a little sick thinking about how horrible I felt after being so careless with a certain brown haired man . " A bottle of water would do just fine. " It was a good choice especially if I was going to be taking on a stressful meeting in less than an hour . It would be best if I kept my wits about me and braced myself .

Madden Inc. was not a far drive from here but , even so , I made sure to leave the café the moment I was done with ten minutes extra to spare . I much rather preferred to be waiting in my car and being early especially since I did not want to ruin my first impression with the newly acquired CEO.

As expected, I had reached Madden Inc. in no time . I pulled the sun visor flap open and pushed back the mirror cover . I did not want to walk in there looking out of place . I noticed my lipstick had faded from lunch and decided to touch it up a little. It was a brown nude shade that looked like I had something on but , at the same time , didn't stand out like a sore thumb. I ran my fingers through my hair carefully to put a few stray stands back in to place and then inspected my teeth for any left overs .

I took in a deep breath and popped my sunglasses on before I stepped out of my car , leader bound files and the necessary documents in my hands.